Yes I say, Say YES with Relocation

So I have relocated, to a Dream Life sort of scenario in Ithaca, NY.  And it really is spectacular, a lovely community nestled in an idyllic environment of lakes and forests, birds and abundant cultural opportunities. And as Relocation always offers new possibilities to create the life of your Dream, I am practicing a basic principle of Relocation as I begin this new adventure:

Say YES!

Of course you will sometimes want to practice right discrimination to also say No (to repeating pathways to bad habits from the past, e.g.), but all in all I am saying YES to opportunities as they arise. The Universe/ Spirit, I find, is meeting me at the precipice of this new adventure, presenting opportunities.  I have met a small community of Eckists (my spiritual group) at a class last week, which led to lunch with two of these new friends yesterday and my agreement to transport a new friend to a weekly meetup group, and to travelling with new friends to a spiritual service in Syracuse tomorrow. I responded to discovery that a local college (one of my favorites: Ithaca College!) might have adjunct teaching positions available, so I applied a couple of months ago and–long story short–I will be teaching there as well as in Colorado via online teaching, come this Fall semester! Another online lead has led to the chance to meet a potential new friend who has welcomed me to the area.  And people here are NICE, so far everywhere.

Say YES is I believe an important principle when working in tandem with Spirit/ the Universe (however you wish to construe this), always. It can lead you forward so long as you trust (and exercise) your ‘instinct’ and WELCOME new directions, new connections, a new life.

Of course old friends will always be on my mind as I move forward here. It does seem impossible that my friends and colleagues of the past 25 years are now as remote from here as my family was while I was living in Colorado. I aim to continue to nurture these connections. But I am ready and willing to step forth with this new Life Chapter, too. As much or more lies ahead as in the rear view mirror.

images are from pixabay.com

Life is ephemeral, as a remembered W.B. Yeats poem (click here) states. Friends, family and this life as a whole is on loan to us from Divine Love/ the Universe. It is what we do with our associations that matters. Separation is only a temporary illusion, one might also say. New friends may be Souls we meet again.

I welcome YOUR Comments and Story!

Your HEALER in the MIRROR

One technique I have offered before that seems relevant this month as we close the September focus on the HEALER Archetype is a Look-in-the-Mirror technique.  Remember the Snow White fairy tale (“Who’s the Fairest…?”)  Simply imagine standing before a full sized mirror and seeing your Inner HEALER part-of-Self looking back at you, beaming a smile!

From a wonderful blog post published by MarDrag I have been led to this Message below (from March 14, 2013 at From the Desk of MarDrag ) that I imagine your own Healer might say to You:

Your Beautiful Self

 “You are beautiful. Know this. Anyone who tells you otherwise is simply lying. You are beautiful.”  ~ Steve Maraboli

“In your own life it’s important to know how spectacular you are.”  ~ Steve Maraboli

“Did your mom ever tell you, ‘If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything’? She was right–and talking nicely also applies when you’re talking to yourself,

even inside your head.”
~ Victoria Moran

“Letting ourselves be forgiven is one of the most difficult healings we will undertake. And one of the most fruitful.”  ~ Stephen Levine

“I am my own biggest critic. Before anyone else has criticized me, I have already criticized myself. But for the rest of my life, I am going to be with me and I don’t want to spend my life with someone who is always critical. So I am going to stop being my own critic. It’s high time that I accept all the great things about me.”  ~ C. JoyBell C.

“You can be the most beautiful person in the world and everybody sees light and rainbows when they look at you, but if you yourself don’t know it, all of that doesn’t even matter. Every second that you spend on doubting your worth, every moment that you use to criticize yourself; is a second of your life wasted, is a moment of your life thrown away. It’s not like you have forever, so don’t waste any of your seconds, don’t throw even one of your moments away.”  ~ C. JoyBell C.

“Allow yourself to enjoy each happy moment in your life.”  ~ Steve Maraboli

from The Desk of MarDrag:

While the Great Tapestry of Life is being woven with our threads and the threads of all those around us, our own smaller Tapestries are being woven to fit into that bigger picture. The threads of our individual pictures are made up of our experiences, our actions and our energy…..but the most important component that makes up those threads….are our thoughts about ourselves. Those thoughts and impressions that we hold about ourselves weave the very fibers of our threads together and then those threads weave into our pictures, and those pictures are woven into the bigger picture….and our place in the world is made.

So each and every fiber of thought is important. They are essential to the kind of picture we would like to have recorded in our own Tapestries, and then, in the Great Tapestry.

We think many thoughts about ourselves throughout the day. How many of them are good thoughts? How many are thoughts that acknowledge our wisdom and celebrate our innate beauty? How many of them are about how much we love ourselves? For what we think of ourselves is what will be woven into our threads and recorded. And our pictures will either be bright and joyful, or dark and sad.

The definition of Beautiful is this: a) having qualities that delight the senses; of a very high standard; excellent; wonderful; generally pleasing; having qualities of aesthetic beauty. And we ALL….every one of us…..have these qualities. It is just that, sometimes they get buried under stress and worry or we forget to let them shine for one reason or another. Most importantly, we forget to remind ourselves that we possess them. We inundate ourselves with frequent chatter about all that we feel is wrong about us….but we forget that we all have this innate beauty that deserves to shine. We deserve to Feel our beauty…as well as show it.

I love the quote above by C. JoyBell C. that says, “I am my own worst critic, but I do not want to spend my life with someone who is always critical, so it is high time I accept all the great things about me.” It is so profound in that…we seem to easily accept the things we think are wrong with us and criticize…but we have such a hard time accepting the wonderful, spectacular, beautiful things about ourselves and acknowledge them, Be them. And then to weave all of those fine and lovely fibers into our threads so that our Tapestries can be the pictures that we so much want them to be, that they actually truly are, if we can but see them that way. See ourselves for who we truly, and beautifully, are.

You are beautiful! You are magnificent! You have qualities and gifts that no one has exactly like you. Know this. Remind yourself of it daily. Write it down and post it somewhere you will see it every day. Because it is the truth. Believe it….and watch the beauty of your threads weave a glorious picture of a brilliant life for you. And it will be all because….YOU thought it!

Blessings!

images are from pixabay.com

So try it, you might like it! Stand before your Inner Healer in the Mirror. What other message does S/he wish to impart to you directly? You can write it in the space below, if you wish:

I always welcome your Stories and Comments!

Your Fight Cheer

This message came through for me last night from my own Warrior archetype Ally: Compose a Fight Cheer to help you as a positive affirmation of determination and persistence to achieve a valued goal.

Here are some fight cheers I found online (Cheers and Chants):

Let me hear you yell GO! -GO!- (pause) Let me hear you yell FIGHT! -FIGHT!-(pause) Let me hear you yell WIN! -WIN!- (pause) Let me hear you yell GO FIGHT WIN!!!! -GO FIGHT WIN!!!!-

All the fans in the stands, yell GO! -GO!-, All the fans in the stands, yell FIGHT! -FIGHT!-, All the fans in the stands, yell WIN! -WIN!- All the fans in the stands, yell GO FIGHT WIN! -GO FIGHTWIN!!!!-

The Power, the might, can you believe the hype. Let’s go Tigers let’s fight, the Tigers will rock you tonight, yeah!

We are the Bears and we can’t be beat. We’re gonna knock you you right off your feet.

We can, we can, know we can, we can, we can we must, we can, we can!

Control is the key, to take that victory!

My own Warrior chant is actually a bit at odds with the norm. What came through from my own Warrior is:

Remember to Surrender;

Always Give UP!

How is this a Warrior cry, you might well ask? It reminds me to RELEASE my goal “upwards,” to Spirit, then trust and be patient, attentive to the Way it opens; then to ACT in keeping with the path revealed.

What is YOUR Fight Cheer, your Battle Cry, your Affirmation for Success? Write out one that you repeat many times, or several. Place it somewhere you will see it through the day or where you most need to be reminded of your Goal. Do a cheerleader’s routine with your Cheer, if you like!

Go, Go, You CAN and Will Succeed!

Reach Your Target, Achieve your Highest Dream!

images from pixabay.com

Proclaim Your Inner Idealist !

 

What are your ideals? It’s “open mike” for your Idealist archetype Ally part-of-Self to proclaim your highest ideal values.

I invite you to write or speak a list of IDEALIST statements or affirmations you would love to share. As an example here are some affirmations from my own IDEALIST point of view:

“Never Give Up, yet always give UP (Surrender to Spirit and be willing to Accept ITS bounty)!”

“Aim for the Heavens in all you do; you do not have to “nearly die” to get Here!”

“Trust.”

“Honesty.”

“Faith.”

“Dream, and then ACT on your inner Dream Guidance.”

“Sit still and Do Something!”

“There are no strangers; all are cut from the same cloth.”

Now then, all you need to do is take some ‘time out’ and LISTEN! Allow your own highest Ideals to guide you on your journey, day to day and moment by moment. Your IDEALIST will support you always and will remind you of your own highest nature.

So ask yourself:

“What are My highest Ideals?

How can I allow these ideals to steer Me along a more positive life course?

How can my Ideals lead Me to define My Life Dream and to Live My Dream, Now! ?”

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I welcome your insights and stories!

 

 

 

 

A Backpacker’s Guide to Exorcism, from ViolaConspiracy; AND Thoughts for the Day, from MarDrag

Here are a wonderful travel story (a Best of Better Endings repost), and positive Thoughts for the Day:

1)  April 16, 2014
A Backpacker’s Guide to Exorcism,  from ViolaConspiracy
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ViolaConspiracy

by amethyst:

A Backpacker’s Guide to Exorcism

Apr. 7th, 2014 at 2:00 PM
The reflection in the window tells me that the pack strapped to my back is small– far too small, in fact, for someone who is on her way to a different country for two weeks. It’s hard to believe my eyes, because I feel like I’m carrying a mountain.

Most people could carry three of my pack without trouble, but I’m adding it to an already-massive load. With all the ghosts riding on my shoulders, there’s hardly room for a backpack. There are the ghosts of Worry About the Future and Self-Doubt, the ghost of Personal Failure, the ghost of Life’s Unfairness, the ghost of Fatigue, and more. They take turns riding piggyback, wrapping their gaunt arms around my neck and digging their fingers into my collarbones. They like to whisper nasty things into my ears. Some of them wear spurs. There’s an ache between my shoulder blades that never goes away, and my reflection in the glass shows a slouch that’s too pronounced to be explained by the small bundle of things I’m carrying.

In a moment of hot panic, Worry and Self-Doubt begin to quarrel. “I won’t have enough things!” collides with “I can’t carry this for two weeks!” But it’s too late to do anything. The bus leaves in three minutes, and Worry is flogging me and shouting that if I don’t make this bus, the next one won’t get me to the airport on time.

By the time I check into the first guesthouse late that night, I feel as though I’ve been beaten. Fatigue hangs on my neck like a ballast stone, muttering quiet obscenities at me. My feet and joints ache from the extra weight. The skin on my shoulders is chafed where the straps of my backpack rubbed all day, and the muscles underneath feel bruised. The constant ember of pain in my back has flared into a bonfire. It’s hard to even sleep.

In the morning, Fatigue and Self-Doubt clutch at the straps and try to stop me from putting my pack on again, but finally I wrestle them down and the weight settles unkindly onto yesterday’s bruises. I haven’t even left my room yet and I want to cry. The pace of the entire day is dictated by my need for periodic rests, and the sightseeing agenda is chosen according to which locations will have a locker or a place to leave bags. I feel heavy and slow and old and Personal Failure keeps whispering that I’m getting in everyone else’s way. This night, even the inferno in my back can’t interfere with my bone-weariness, and I sleep the sleep of the dead.

On the third day, the weight of my backpack is familiar. Deep sleep has erased some of the bruising and tamed the blaze in my back to the size of a small campfire. My body has started to adjust its balance for the weight of the pack. I can move without knocking into things, at least. The ghosts are tired from sharing their space with my bag, and their grip is lazy. The day is filled with historic temples and street food, and the cherry blossoms floating down everywhere are so mesmerizing that I forget to listen to Worry’s whisperings. At night I dream of fantastic foreign landscapes sweeping past my train window.

“I am a turtle,” I think on the fourth morning. “This backpack is my home. All the things I really need are inside it, and I can carry it wherever I want to go.” On this day I can stand up straight, because I have discovered how to be a little more self-sufficient and that makes me proud of myself. Self-Doubt loses his clammy grip as I bump down the stairs, and I leave him sitting alone on the bottom step.

By day five, I can’t hear any whispers, and I strap on my backpack without any cadaverous arms or bony fingers getting in the way. When I’m carrying home on my back, there’s no room for ghosts.

http://violaconspiracy.livejournal.com/3480.html

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Thoughts For The Day (5/22/14)

 

“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” ~ Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Co.

MarDrag’s Thoughts:

Sometimes it feels like the world is working against us, but we have the power to fly into it, face it, rise above it….and soar.

“Always know in your heart that you are far bigger than anything that can happen to you.” ~ Dan Zadra, Motivational Author

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MarDrag’s Thoughts:

“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” ~ Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Co.

Put things into perspective, realize that things happen, but the scope of the Power of Will and the Soul is far greater than anything else. Focus on your personal power, and it will be there for you.
“Discouragement is a negative emotion with more than one trick up its dark sleeve. It tricks you into mentally or emotionally dwelling in the very place you want to leave. Drop all such sorrow permanently by daring to see through this deception of the unconscious mind. You have a destination far beyond where you find yourself standing today” ~ Guy Finley, Author and Speaker

MarDrag’s Thoughts:

Remember, there is a bigger picture than just the snapshot you are looking at today. This day, and its difficulties, do not define you as a whole person, or the whole of your life. Tomorrow, you will wake and have another chance to do it differently or make another choice. Trick the trickster of the deception Guy Finley speaks of and see through it, thereby taking all the power away from that negative emotion.

We are all special and unique in our own way, and are an important thread in the tapestry of the universe. Remember how significant you are in that tapestry and how no one can fill the space your thread fills and weaves like you do. No matter what you are going through, or what anyone else says, you are essential to the greater picture and a beautiful thread that completes this gorgeous tapestry.

Blessings!

About MarDrag:

First things first: Spirit and Love! Then, I am a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist and Counselor who assists people in achieving empowerment over life issues and challenges. I have developed am series of meditations and processes designed to help achieve a balanced way of life that enriches and empowers and teaches how to overcome adversity while still maintaining a positive and happy lifestyle. Yes, it is possible!! Read much more at my blog: fromthedeskofmardrag.wordpress.co

By From the Desk of MarDrag • Tagged Alone, Awakening, Awareness, Bigger Picture, Change, Destination, Empowerment,Encouragement, Healing, Heart, Inspiration, Life, Life Force, Obstacles, Personal Growth, Rise Above, Soar, Spirituality,Surrender, Tapestry

 

Epiphany: Warming up your vehicle–>Life Application, by E for Encouragement; and Making Lemonade, by Mirror of Health and Fashion (Two Guest Re-blogs)

Dear Readers: For this week’s Guest Re-Blog, I have selected two nice posts that reinforce our theme of “Habitual Better Endings”. Here are two Good Habit suggestions. I have used a very similar Lemonade cleanser recipe for a cleansing fast and found it very helpful as well as tasty! – L

1)  Warming up our Vehicles/ Warming up Our Mornings with Affirmations and Prayer

Monday, 17 March 2014~~This morning, I was driving with a family member in her vehicle to run errands.  In the driver’s seat, I asked her, “How long do you warm up your car?”  (The temperature was in the 40′s F.)

“I don’t.  I just go,” she answered.

“Oh,” I replied slowly.  (I was taught to always warm up my vehicle in the morning for good functioning and longevity of the vehicle.)

My epiphany: Besides good functioning vehicles, we as individuals (mothers, fathers, community leaders, employees, students, role-models) for a better-functioning day, deliberately need to warm up our mornings with positive affirmations, prayer, Bible reading, deep breathing, etc.

Yes, I agree: stabilizing and creating good habits can be difficult. However, with the right motivation in the morning or “common sense” of warming up a vehicle, I am positive of a great functioning day and life.

“Cheers!” to warming up our mornings as we “warm up” our vehicles to function well.

E for Encouragement 

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Day Cleanse with tasty lemonade

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Mirror of Health & Fashion

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We all know how body cleanse is an important in our life.We need to clean our body like we wash our face,hands or using a body scrub to clean the skin.Detoxification is the process of eliminating toxic substances from your body. Please notice,before beginning any detox diet, it is always good idea to check with your health care provider, especially if there are any health issues.I like to use my lemonade detox drink,which is great because lemon contains an ascorbic acid,which is good cleanser.Choose your day of cleanse,in that day I eat only fresh fruits and vegetables and drink 8-10 glasses of this lemonade drink.

http://mirrorofyourhealth.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/day-cleanse-with-tasty-lemonade/comment-page-1/#comment-217

Wellness Affirmations

A principle of Better Endings that can facilitate this week’s topic of Health & Wellness is Affirmation or setting positive postulates. Most of us are familiar with the use of affirmations to frame our goals according to a positive mindset. One approach to using positive affirmations is called the “fifteen times” technique. You write a very positive statement that expresses the successful realization of a goal, writing that statement fifteen times daily. In relation to health and healing, for example, I might write 15x:

I am exercising weekly and eating fewer processed foods. (a behavioral affirmation)

Or perhaps:

I am mindful of all that I permit into my mind and body. (an awareness raising affirmation)

You can use this method to orient yourself to establishing values or behaviors you desire to integrate more fully into your consciousness.

As a cultural anthropologist I have learned about many fascinating cultural approaches to manifesting health and wellness, many of which employ practices that are similar to setting positive affirmations. The Hopi, for instance, attribute any mental or physical manifestation of illness or disorder as an indication that one is holding self-limiting or negative thoughts.  A medicine person might ask a person then to change their thoughts about themselves to positive, more healthy images or postulates. The individual must learn to “manifest” a positive state of health rather than a negative one. According to Don Talayesva as cited in Sun Chief , this is a capacity and a responsibility of the individual, to express hopi (harmonious) rather than kahopi (inharmonious) thought patterns and behaviors. While the medicine man might also practice ritual means of reinforcing positive postulates to help the individual to reorient to a healthy pattern, it is within the capacity of the individual to accomplish their own improvement of outlook.

Repeating positive Affirmations, whether 15x or in some other manner, is a matter of establishing a habit of thought or behavior that might replace other thought or behavior habits that no longer serve you.

It is important, however, to be kind to yourself. Practice acts of kindness with yourself, always. Fill your heart with unconditional love for yourself as well as allowing that love and consideration to flow through you to others and to your environment.

If you hold yourself in high esteem and give humbly of yourself to all of life, how can you be other than in harmony with life affirming, healthful realities? Illnesses or conditions need not impair your Wellness, and positive wellness affirmations—though they may not of themselves accomplish immediate or sufficient “healing” of such conditions—certainly will do “no harm” and may help you to manifest qualities and achieve relationships you might otherwise overlook by remaining ‘caught’ in the lair of negative postulates.

You deserve to SHINE, to Manifest Better Endings, Now and Always!

 

Countering Self-Limiting Beliefs with Better Endings (“Riddikulous!”)

This week we can apply the principle of Better Endings to transforming self-limiting beliefs and personal myths. What are those beliefs that hold you back from Living Your Dream, Now? Are there any personal myths, or restrictive postulates, that you carry in your mindset about yourself, others, or the world/universe?

Joseph Campbell, the comparative mythologist–many of whose ideas my life mapping approach is operationalizing for everyday heroes–refers to self-limiting postulates as your “Dragons.” To slay (or, tame) your Dragon means in Campbell’s terms that you must identify and confront your limiting beliefs to conquer their illusional hold on your potentials so you can become all that you care to be, do all that you dare to do, express all that you ARE.

I’m a big Harry Potter fan. Dispelling limiting self-talk and negative beliefs reminds me of Remus Lupin‘s lesson to Hogwarts students where they confront “Bogarts” representing  their deepest fears and they counter their force by focusing on positive thoughts and saying, “Riddikulous!” Isn’t that exactly what we are talking about this week? Our limiting beliefs are only mental constructs; think powerfully happy thoughts to dispel their oppressive energy. They have no power greater than your own force of positive affirmation or intention.

A Samuel Taylor Coleridge poetry shard has lodged in me since college days:

Like one that on a lonesome road

Doth walk in fear and dread,

 And having once turned round, moves on,

And turns no more his head,

because he knows a frightful fiend

Doth close behind him tread.

If he turns around (I always remembered the pronoun as feminine until checking sources today), well along down the road, will the dragon-fiend still be there? Applying the Law of Assumption, the monster is no longer there so long as you do not bring it with you; so long as you stop running from it.

Of course, there are deep, shadowy, real tormentors and dire conditions that will not go away just by wishing they might. All conditions have their purpose and if they persist, there are good reasons for their presence in one’s life. Better Endings is not about being Polyannish or wearing rose colored denial glasses. Still, how we respond matters. That’s why Rowling’s “Riddikulous!” resonates for me as such a marvelous, profound ‘spell’. Try it on the worst of scenarios and, like Mary Poppins‘ spoonful of sugar, some light can return that might illuminate an opportunity to grow, to learn, to laugh at our fears and to unfold in awareness. So with that, we cannot lose, see?

As eternal Soul, made of spirit substance or the indestructible, vital life energy of the universe (however we call it), we are greater than any physical or emotional circumstance and we are lighter than any ‘heavy object’ that might attempt to weigh us down or hold us back from manifesting all that we are, the I AM, that you ARE.

Related articles

• Being the Hero of your own Myth (southwarkorganising.wordpress.com)
• How do we overcome our fear? We expose the stuff we fear to scrutiny. (eagleman6788.wordpress.com)